I was trying to do it 'quick n dirty' and obviously did it *too* 'quick n dirty' without paying attention to what I was really doing.

Your results make me feel more confident that I see what is going on and tought me (or re-tought me) a lesson that we talk about periodically in the Monestary: benchmarking is good...but do it right. The tools exist for a reason: to make it easy (or at least easier) to 'do it right'.